Blind-slat retainer.



No. 643,565. Patented Feb. l3, I900.

E. A. THRALL.

BLIND SLAT RETAINER.

(Application filed Dec. 6, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN A. THRALL, OF TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

BLlND-SLAT RETAINER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,565, dated February13, 1900. Apnlication filed December 6, 1899. $erial No. 739,879. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN A. THRALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Torrington, county of Litchfield, State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new and useful Blind-Slat Retainer, of which the following isa specification.

My invention has for its object to provide a blind-slat retainer orblind-stop which may be made from a single piece of spring-wire and attrifling expense, which may be attached to any blind, new or old andbefore or after hanging, by any person skilled or unskilledand withoutother tools than a screwdriver, which will require no manipulationwhatever in use, and will hold the slats of a blind either fully open orclosed or at intermediate positions, with the slats inclining eitherinward or outward, as may be desired.

With these ends in view I have devised the simple and novelslat-retainer which I will now describe, referring to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, and using referencecharacters to designate the several parts.

Figure 1 is a front elevation illustrating the application of my novelslat-retainer to a blind, the slats being locked in the closed position;Fig. 2, a section on the line X X in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a sectional viewupon the same line, but showing the slats locked in a partlyopenposition .and inclining downward and outward; Fig. 4, a similar viewshowing the slats locked in the fully-open position; Fig. 5, a similarview showing the slats locked in a partly-open position and incliningdownward and inward; and Fig. 6 is a perspective, full size, of a simpleform of retaining-plate which may be used in connection with my novelslat-retainer.

A denotes the slats of a blind, which are connected together by a rod Bin the usual manner, C the frame, and E my novel slatretainer as awhole, the same consisting simply of a piece of spring-wire doubled uponitself (that is, so that the two arms lie approximately parallel) at oneside of its mid-length. These arms I have indicated by 10 and 11, theonly difference beingthat one arm-in the present instance arm 11-is madelonger than the other fora purpose that I shall presently explain.

12 denotes bows formed at the free ends of the arms. Thes'e bows arepreferably made, as shown in the drawings, by curving the metal of thearms and then recurving itinward, substantially as shown in thedrawings, the ends of the arms lying in contact or approximately incontact with the arms themselves.

As already stated, one of the arms is made longer than the other, so asto make one of the bows higher than the other when the device is inoperative position on a blind. The difference in height is in practicejust sufficient so that in the fully 1 open position of the slats, as inFig. 4, one of the bows will be practically inoperative, and the otherbowin the present instance the upper one-will lie between two of theslatsin the present instance the second and the third slats from thebottom-in such a way as to press upward slightly upon the edge of theupper slat and downward slightly .upon the edge of the lower slat,thereby retaining the series of slats in the fully-open position, fromwhich they can not be moved by the wind or until some one usessufficient strength in moving the slats to overcome the strength of thespring-arm which carries the upper bow.

It will be noted in Fig. 3, in which the slats are shown as locked in anintermediate or partly-open position with the slats inclining downwardand outward, that the slats are held in position by the engagement withtwo of them of the lower bow, this bow acting as did the upper onebefore to press upward slightly .upon the upper slat and downwardslightly upon the lower slat. When the slats are in the closed position,as in Fig. 2, it will be noted that each bow engages the upper edge ofone of the slats, so that the series of slats is firmly locked in thatposition, it being obvious that pressure upon either one or two of theslats above its pivotal point will act to press the upper edges of theslats outward and will throw the lower edges inward, the lower edge ofthe lower slat engaging the usual shoulder 13 upon the frame of theblind.

In Fig. -5 the slats are shown as reversedthat is, turned so as to placethe lower edges above the upper edges-and as locked in a partly-openposition with the slats inclining inward. The slats are held in thisposition by the engagement of each bow with a slat below its pivotalpoint, the action being to press the upper edges of the slats downwarduntil the lower slat engages the frame of the blind, as clearly shown inFig. 5.

My novel slat-retainer may be secured in place upon the frame of a blindin any suitable manner, as by an attaching-plate F and screw 14, thescrew passing through a hole 15 in the plate and said plate being alsoprovided with grooves 16 to receive the arms, and thereby lock thedevice securely in place.

In attaching in place the plate is placed over the arms of the retainerand the screw is turned partially in, the retainer being adjusted bymoving it downward until the lower bow comes in contact with the upperedge of one of the slatsin the present instance the lower slat, as isclearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The screw is then tightened up, which isquite sufficient to hold the retainer securely in place.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A blind-slat retainercomprising springarms each provided with a bow, the bow upon one armbeing higher than the bow upon the other arm, substantially as shown,for the purpose specified.

2. A blind-slat retainer comprising springarms each of which is providedwith a bow adapted to engage the slats, one of said arms being longerthan the other arm, thereby causing one bow to engage the slats at ahigher point than the other bow.

3. The combination with slat-retainer E comprising spring-arms eachprovided with a bow, the bow upon one arm being higher than the bow uponthe other arm, of an attaching-plate having in its under side groovesadapted to receive the arms.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN A. TIIRALL.

Witnesses:

A. M. WOOSTER, S. W. ATHERTON.

